AP German Language and Culture

Advanced Placement (AP) German Language and Culture (also known as AP German Language or AP German) is a course and examination provided by the College Board through the Advanced Placement Program. This course is designed to give high school students the opportunity to receive credit in a college-level German language course. It is generally taken in the fourth year of high school German study.^[1]

Exam

The AP German Language and Culture exam administered around the end of the academic year is split into two parts, a multiple choice section and a free response section, each with equal value in the overall exam score.^[1]

Format

Section	Number of Questions	Number of Minutes	%
Section I, Part A: Multiple Choice - Interpretive Communication: Print Texts	30 questions	40 minutes	50%
Section I, Part B: Multiple Choice - Interpretive Communication: Print and Audio Texts	35 questions	~55 minutes
Section II Part A: Free Response - Writing	2 questions	~70 minutes	50%
Section II, Part B: Free Response - Speaking	6 questions	~18 minutes

Grade distribution

The grade distributions for the AP German Language and Culture exam since 2009 are:

Score	2009[2]	2010[3]	2011[4]	2012[5]	2013[6]	2014[7]	2015[8]	2016[9]	2017[10]	2018[11]	2019[12]	2020[13]	2021[14]	2022[15]	2023[16]	2024[17]
5	23.3%	24.8%	23.4%	26.2%	25.9%	23.1%	24.7%	21.4%	23.0%	22.4%	21.0%	23.9%	18.0%	20.0%	21.8%	24%
4	21.7%	20.0%	19.6%	25.6%	23.4%	23.1%	24.0%	22.5%	24.1%	22.7%	24.2%	33.9%	19.5%	19.1%	21.3%	18%
3	24.0%	23.1%	23.6%	27.5%	28.4%	27.1%	28.2%	27.0%	28.5%	25.9%	27.2%	16.0%	27.6%	26.5%	24.9%	25%
2	18.9%	18.6%	19.8%	13.9%	16.3%	18.5%	16.6%	20.6%	17.5%	21.6%	19.5%	19.5%	23.5%	22.9%	19.2%	22%
1	12.2%	13.4%	13.6%	6.8%	6.0%	8.2%	6.4%	8.5%	6.9%	7.4%	8.2%	6.7%	11.4%	11.6%	12.8%	11%
% of Scores 3 or Higher	68.9%	67.9%	66.6%	79.3%	77.7%	73.3%	77.0%	70.9%	75.5%	71.0%	72.3%	73.8%	65.1%	65.5%	68.0%	67%
Mean	3.25	3.24	3.19	3.50	3.47	3.34	3.44	3.28	3.39	3.31	3.30	3.49	3.09	3.13	3.20	3.22
Standard Deviation	1.33	1.36	1.36	1.21	1.21	1.24	1.21	1.25	1.21	1.24	1.23	1.23	1.26	1.29	1.32	1.32
Number of Students	5,001	5,389	5,232	4,754	4,966	5,111	5,103	4,945	5,089	5,053	5,160	4,928	4,315	4,450	4,375

AP German Literature

The College Board originally offered two AP German exams: AP German Language and AP German Literature. However, in 1983, due to the persistently low number of AP German Literature exam students, the College Board dropped the Literature exam. Since then, they have offered only the AP German Language exam.^{[citation needed]}